Florida Starting Forward Alex Fudge Doubtful vs. South Carolina

Florida will likely be without starting forward Alex Fudge against South Carolina as he recovers from a head injury.

Photo: Alex Fudge; Credit: Zach Goodall

Gators starting forward Alex Fudge is considered doubtful for Wednesday's contest as Florida returns home following a two-game road stretch to take on South Carolina.

Fudge suffered a head injury in the first minute of the second half against Mississippi State on Saturday, hitting his head on the hardwood. The Jacksonville, Fla., native didn't return.

Now, as the Gators look to win their sixth game in the last seven appearances, head coach Todd Golden updated Fudge's status.

"Alex is day-to-day," he said during media availability on Tuesday. "I don't think we'll see him tomorrow night.

"He didn't practice yesterday and we'll see how he's doing in a little bit here. We're not going to get him back out there until he's ready from a health standpoint to help us win."

Fudge is averaging 7.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per contest this season in 22 minutes per game. Coming off the bench to begin the year before assuming a starting role, taking over for CJ Felder in the late stages of out-of-conference play, Fudge has provided Florida with an explosive presence at the four spot on both ends of the floor, specifically on the boards.

"He's played a lot for us and doing really well," Golden said about the LSU transfer.

In the likelihood he can't go, Golden said he feels comfortable with the inclusion of Will Richard at the four with either Kowacie Reeves Jr. or Riley Kugel at the three. That "small ball" lineup has aided the Gators to find an offensive spark at points in the last two contests.

"Yeah, their ability to guard multiple positions, really anything one through four they can guard, that's given us a big lift in conference play," Golden said. 

"The fact that we can play those lineups and be as good as we were previously defensively and pretty damn close to being as good as we were on the glass allows us to play with more space offensively, I think that's kind of a big reason as to why we've been able to get going a little bit."

Florida hopes to get the talented forward back in the lineup before enduring a difficult stretch of highly-ranked opponents over the next two-plus weeks.

The Gators will tip-off versus the Gamecocks at 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

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